Tallink, the Estonian cruise ferry company, said an earlier agreement to sell the 1986 built accommodation vessel Silja Festival to its Canadian charterer has been cancelled and the ship has been sold to an Italian buyer.

"The agreement between Tallinn Swedish Line Ltd., a subsidiary of AS Tallink Grupp and Bridgemans Services Ltd. to sell the MS Silja Festival has been cancelled," Tallink said in a statement. "Tallinn Swedish Line Ltd. has come to an agreement with Medinvest SPA to sell the MS Silja Festival. The vessel is expected to be delivered in June 2015," the company said.

Bridgemans has used the ship as an accommodation vessel on the west coast of Canada and for this purpose, major changes were made to the cabins of the 34,000 gross ton former cruise ferry.